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We recently went to Stuart's Century Farm in Granite Springs, NY. It's not far off of Highway 684. They had decent prices, $20 for a half bushel bag, and a small market, but no playgrounds, etc. We're used to going apple picking in upstate NY where the prices are much more reasonable and you can pay by the pound. We've also been to Blue Jay Orchards in CT, and although it is a nice small orchard, we will not do so again because it was a rip off.
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michele cindy
Oct 13, 2008 05:42 AM
We went to Weeds Orchards yesterday. It's in Marlboro NY. I may have posted the web site below in an earlier post. There were crispin, maccouns, jona golds, golden delicious, & empires, .89 lb, or 17 for about a 23 lbs. sack. I went early, it started to get crowded at about 12:00. The apple cide donuts were so good, served hot off fryer. A bakers doz. was 6.00. One tip - a 1/2 gallon of cider is 2.45, if you buy individual cups it's 1.26, so opt for the 1/2 gallon, ask for some cups, and bring home what you don't finish.
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re: michele cindy
michele cindy
Oct 12, 2009 09:32 AM
We went to Weed's on Saturday. I see by my post from last year we were right on schedule... Donuts went up to 7.00. Bought a gallon of cider this time. I think it was 4.25. Lots of fun. Tonight I will make a strudel.
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MikiLovesSugar
Oct 12, 2008 08:12 PM
2 weekends ago, i went to Orchards of Concklin and they were great! The apples were beautiful and delicious! The cider doughnuts were also delish!
Today, i went to Outhouse Orchard. It was a madhouse... there were SOOO many people, way too many in my opinion. It was a very family friendly place (animals, tons of pumpkins to pick from, games, hay rides, etc...) but the actual apple picking was kinda icky! Since there were no rules everyone was just shaking trees and dropping all the apples on the ground. All the good ones were basically on the ground cuz the ones that were on the trees all had like wormholes in them. The place was huge and the trees were very randomly spread out and disorganized.If you are wanting to go serious apply picking, go to Orchards of Concklin. If you want a family day type place, go to Outhouse.
P.S- Before going to Outhouse, we stopped at Salingers because i heard about their cider doughnuts. OMG... they were so delicious; hot, fresh, and in my opinion a perfect doughnut!
I blogged about both these apple places...
http://smilessugarandsunshine.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-apple-picking-and-doughnuts.html
http://smilessugarandsunshine.blogspo... -
MisterBill2
Oct 3, 2008 09:33 PM
Allow me to give a plug to the place we've picked apples for many years in Milton, NY:
http://www.prospecthillorchards.com/
They don't have all the fancy stuff that the other places mentioned here have (like playgrounds). What they DO have is nice low trees that you can pick from without using poles, and they charge by the pound so you can pick whatever you want as opposed to making everyone pay for a half bushel as I know some of them do. Very nice people, too.
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re: MisterBill2
Misterbill2, how are the apples at prospect hill orchard? i'm thinking about going. i love that they are organic, but frankly, i know organic apples in these parts can be a little... buggy... i've been to Mr. Apples, but prospect hill sounds so nice. your thoughts on the apple quality?
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re: ckl
ammel_99
Oct 12, 2008 08:54 PM
Try Stone Ridge Orchards.http://www.stoneridgeorchard.us
They have Dwarf trees and also low spray. 10-15 minutes from Mr.Apples.
We went last weekend. Its a small orchard with many apple varieties.
The appleturnover was awesome! -
re: ckl
MisterBill2
Oct 28, 2008 08:05 PM
I guess it's a little late but the apples at Prospect Hill are excellent, I have never had any bugs. We got some really nice crisp Golden Delicious, Cortland and Macoun. There was one variety I wanted (Honey Crisp) which I guess was an early variety because most of the trees were empty and the ones that were left were rotten. It was MUCH more crowded than it has been in the past, maybe I need to stop recommending them here.
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re: MisterBill2
I'll second Prospect Hill Orchards - we went this weekend and had a blast. The apples are awesome with very good variety on dwarf (<10') trees. They were charging $.75/lb, which is a good price and lets you pick as much as you need (some places make you buy a bushel bag. Very nice people running it and a lovely time.
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re: MarkDPelhamNY
MisterBill2
Oct 12, 2009 08:12 PM
Glad you liked it. As you said, I really like that you can buy as much or as little as you want, and the low trees. And the people are nice.
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i_eat_a_lot_of_ice_cream
Sep 25, 2008 12:49 PM
We LOVE Pennings Orchard in Warwick. It's a whole day event-- animals, a shop, food, apple picking, etc.
http://penningsorchard.com/›2 Replies-
re: i_eat_a_lot_of_ice_cream
We often go to Pennings or its neighbor - Ochs Orchards. Warwick has a bunch of smaller orchards that are not as commercial or obnoxiously busy as Masker's. It is more to be able to walk through the orchards without encountering all of humanity.
Depending on the timing, there are usually raspberries or late peaches and plums to be picked too.
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We've been going to Wilken's Farm (http://www.wilkensfarm.com/) in Yorktown Heights for the past 10 years. It's about 45 miles from NYC. Their website lists the 14(!!) varieties of apples that they grow that are available for picking. There is a small store that sells additional items, including baked goods and cider.
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The Dabbler
Sep 25, 2008 07:07 AM
Went to Maskers in Warwick, NY this past weekend. Drive your car up the hill right to the trees. Activities/food at the bottom by the store. Route 17A a little past Greenwood Lake about 1 hour from NYC. http://www.maskers.com/. The town of Warwick will also be holding their annual apple fest Oct 5th. www.warwickapplefest.com.
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nothing heralds the season better than picking crisp apples in crisp air, with the autumn sun against your back. and then making a dozen apple pies, vats of applesauce, candied apples...
thank you all so much for your suggestions!
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re: cimui
A few places in the Hudson River Valley - Hurd's family farm just south of New Paltz (which looks like it has lots of family friendly stuff to do), and Thompson's farm on Route 89 just outside of Newburgh, which also has a petting zoo and a tractor (although this place is popular, so you need to go early). They also have donuts and even apple pies for sale.
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re: cimui
michele cindy
Sep 25, 2008 04:41 AM
The kids and I just made great candy apples 2 nights ago. I used to buy my candy apples at the mall, they now want $7.75 for 1 apple, and charge .50 for a box! I said to the kids we can make these on our own. To keep it simple I took Kraft carmels 2 tbsp of water, melt in the microwave, dipped them, let them cool, then melted milk chocolate chips with a tsp or oil, drizzled this over the apples, and then tossed them around in crushed peanuts. I was so surprised they came out as good as they did. No more mall apples ever again! I think I will post something on the Home Cooking board to get more ideas, if you have some please share a few over there. Thanks!
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re: michele cindy
Michele, I pretty much just use the recipe on the Kraft caramels package -- far less interesting than yours, it sounds! But all those Chowhound posts about marzipan apples have me inspired this year.
For this thread, I'd love to hear your take on what variety of apples make the best caramel apples, so I know what to pick.
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re: cimui
michele cindy
Sep 26, 2008 04:12 AM
I like to use granny smith. The tartness counteracts the sweetness of the apple. A sweet apple would not work for me. Also in addition to being tart, it needs to be crisp. Just a personal preference.
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Nancy C
Sep 24, 2008 12:01 PM
Thompson's Cider Mill in Ossining/Yorktown has superb cider, a nice small orchard with interesting varieties to pick, and others available in their adorable shed.
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re: Bloombee
Ah, it looks from the website like you're right, bloombee:
"Finally, a few words about apple picking. We do not allow public picking in our orchard because we do not have sufficient parking. Apple picking takes time. Having cars parked for long periods of time consumes too much of our parking space and makes it difficult for us to use our tractors to shift bins of apples around as part of our cider making. We understand the attraction of picking your own apples and are happy to provide directions to several large orchards in the region that can properly handle public picking."
http://www.thompsonscidermill.com/rep...
Too bad about picking, but still looks like a great place for cider!
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re: cimui
Nancy C
Sep 25, 2008 07:14 AM
Gee, I didn't know that Geoff's not doing apple picking. I guess things have changed from when he first got going (we used to live about a half mile away and would just walk over). The cider is indeed super yummy - it's our "must have" for Thanksgiving (we bring it to DC for family gathering) and we try to freeze a few to enjoy for the winter.
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TongoRad
Sep 24, 2008 07:04 AM
Lately I've been going to the Orchards of Concklin- plenty of apples, easy to get to (just off of exit 12 on the Palisades Pkwy) and kickin' cider donuts made on premeses. If you're travelling with kids there is a pretty large playground/park just up the road that makes for a good picnic place- we usually just turn the whole thing into a big day out.
http://www.theorchardsofconcklin.com/ -
